Crews, House, and Wood Among 3rd ST Cuts & Releases
It took about five days, but the long-awaited reassignments of Dylan Crews, Brady House, and James Wood (oh my!) happened yesterday, along with some other reassignments and some releases.
Joining the “Other Big Three” were:
- OF Robert Hassell
- C Israel Pineda
- LHPs Richard Bleier, Joe LaSorsa
- 1B Juan Yepez
While some have expressed surprise at Wood getting sent down, they either haven’t been paying attention or aren’t very sophisticated. Sorry, that may sound harsh, but I’ll repeat: if Bryce Harper didn’t make the Opening Day roster in 2012, Wood was not going to in 2024. QED.
As noted in the comments—and by WaPo’s Andrew Golden (linked above)—Trey Lipscomb remains in camp. This is more in line with how the Nats operate. The company line is that he’s competing with Luis García Jr. for the starting job at second base, but ignore that Lipscomb can play all four IF positions at your own peril. Even with the National League joining the 20th century in 2020, utility players are still valued (see: Walters, Zach; Difo, Wilmer; Sanchez, Adrián; Alu, Jake).
As for the releases, Zach Davies was released unconditionally, which appears to have been part of his contract (i.e., if he wasn’t going to make the club as a starter he had the option to leave). Meanwhile, the Boys in Durham have also passed along word that the following minor-leaguers were let go:
- RHPs Bernardo Hiraldo, Jefrem Leon, Luis Perdomo
- 1B Leandro Emiliani
- 3B Zion Pettigrew
- OFs Jhoan Contreras, Jordan Qsar, Eliesel Santana
I’m also seeing (on Rochester website) :
RHP Zach Bryzkcy to Harrisburg (60-day DL)
OF Eddie Rosario assigned to Rochester
FCL Nats released 1B Blake Klassen
With Rosario getting demoted and Lipscomb not, I’m suddenly rather confused with what I thought was a rather straightforward OD roster.
Bats: Winker, Robles, Thomas, Senzel, Abrams, Garcia, Gallo, Meneses, Ruiz, Adams, Vargas, +2
Arms: Gray, Gore, Corbin, Williams, Irvin, Finnegan, Harvey, Rainey, Weems, Floro, +3
Among the bats remaining, you take one of Young or Call and one of Nunez or Lipscomb
Among the relievers, you take 3 of: Jacob Barnes, Matt Barnes, Law, Garcia. I presume Ferrer will start the season on the IL.
Jake Irvin will be an All Star this summer
just noticed the Sens don’t visit Bowie until August, bummer!
Major bummer
We barely knew you Qsar !
Play JDL play !
Fred MD
If you folks are tired of rain you could be with me in South Dakota
Low 14 F
I really, really didn’t think that Wood had much of a chance to make the big club either. And considering his K rate at AA last year, plus the fact that the Nats haven’t done any upgrading to be able to contend, there’s no rush. He certainly seems to have put in the work to improve on his holes last season, though.
I’ve been saying since last season that Lipscomb’s ability to play shortstop makes him VERY interesting. Plus they don’t seem at all sold on Luis Garcia at 2B, Senzel at 3B has been dinged, Vargas has sub-zero pop, and Rule 5 kid Nunez is “hitting” .148 and is going to be hard to keep. I don’t think it’s guaranteed that Lipscomb will make the big club out of the spring, but he’s certainly put himself in the conversation.
Lipscomb looks like he’s good enough to at least be a competent MLB utility guy. Time will tell if can hit enough to be considered for a starting role.
Yeah, it seems Nunez has played his way out of a OD roster spot, which has been seized by Lipscomb (who just went 3 for 4 today to bring his line up to .396/.453/.542!). But I fear he’ll find himself used primarily as a utility guy, and get late-inning sub appearances and occasional day-game-following-night-game starts.
He’s at least earned the chance to show the team what they’ve got, especially because there’s little blocking him. Though it’s much more likely this turns into Jake Noll v2.0 than Juan Soto v2.0, but that’s okay! The whole point of this season is to see what we’ve got on the farm.
Lipscomb > Noll. Noll didn’t have anything in his MiLB and college numbers to back up his “false spring.” Lipscomb does. I certainly don’t think he’s a superstar, and I’m not even sure if he’s an MLB starter, but he sure seems better than the shuttle utility guys who Luke mentioned above. The comp for Lipscomb who comes to mind is Josh Harrison, who was a solid but unspectacular MLB player. (Also like Lipscomb, Harrison had gap power, a little SB speed, and didn’t take enough walks.)
For the Nats right now, Lipscomb’s bat is better than Vargas’s. It may be better than Senzel’s, but the Nats seem committed to Senzel when he’s healthy. Lipscomb will be lurking if Senzel or Garcia falters, though.
No disagreement here. I agree that Lipscomb is a much better prospect than Noll. With that said, there’s a very strong possibility Lipscomb never amounts to anything, like Noll. That’s all I’m saying.
On Vargas/Senzel, I would just add that Vargas is presently a better hitter than Senzel. Since 2022, Vargas has hit .257/.302/.376 and Senzel has hit .233/.296/.347, which makes Senzel’s signing all the more perplexing, but I’m turning into a broken record on this point.
I wouldn’t say “very strong possibility” that Lipscomb never amounts to anything, but there’s certainly that possibility. The step to the majors is no joke, as we’ve been reminded with Jake Alu and Blake Rutherford recently. Heck, it’s the whole story of Kieboom’s “career.”
I’ve hedged all along with the hope that Lipscomb can be a decent MLB utility guy, all the more since he’s SS-capable. If he becomes more than that, he’s found gold. As it is, he’s on the cusp of the majors after just one full season in the minors, which is pretty impressive. The real cautionary tale, of course, is that he crashed and burned in the Arizona Fall League. It seems that he’s put in the work to try to fix the holes that stint highlighted.
I view the handling of the kids as a chance to prove the versatility of our go-to setting: calling Rizzo and the Nats incompetent. Send the kids down before the start of the 2024 season, we get to criticize them immediately. And to blame any struggles the kids have on their deep disappointment at their “mistreatment.” Have the kids on the OD roster and we get to yell at them 5-6 years down the road if they make it, or blame the team for “rushing” them if they don’t.
Win-win-win!
It would be one thing if any of these three had played more than half a season at AA and were tearing it up last summer, but that’s just not the case on either count. House’s workload was managed like a pitcher in reverse, but needs to show he can play everyday. Wood’s tendency to strike out hasn’t abated. And Will’s pretty much covered Crews.
It’s worth noting that the two most famous examples of rushed prospects — Lannan and Rhinehart — didn’t happen under Rizzo.
The Wood, Hassell, and Lipscomb showings in the spring seem to indicate that they’re ready for AAA. House and Crews would be well served by starting in AA. There’s no rush with any of them. There isn’t going to be a drive for the playoffs to support. (That’s not Rizzo’s fault, IMO. Ownership is keeping the purse strings extremely tight.)
Farewell to Leandro Emiliani. It looked like he might be a serious prospect, with a fantastic age 19 season in the GCL in 2019. But like many others, COVID wrecked his natural development path and he never looked the same again.
The Nats 1B prospects narrows even further…
Thinking the exact same on Emiliani, a true ‘what if’ prospect.
Wyatt Langford has made the Rangers active roster.
If there was a 2023 re-draft both Langford and Walker Jenkins would be taken ahead of Crews. Both are better all-around prospects and particularly have more power than Crews ever will, which is critical for an OF. Doesn’t take long to see that Crews MLB role will be as a corner OF with some, but not great power. He’s also has good, but not elite speed.
FWIW, I like Dylan Crews, and think he will be a solid MLB player (a better version of Lane Thomas), but there was no point that a neutral observer could look at Crews and think he had the upside of either Langford or Jenkins.